To really learn Ruby & Rails if you haven't already done it do the rails 3 tutorial http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book. It goes through building a rails app line by line without scaffolding.

For the Ruby try Learn Ruby The Hard Way. http://ruby.learncodethehardway.org/

If you haven't already find the ruby/rails user group in your area. I found that having people locally to ask questions to makes a huge difference.

If you are on linux or mac install RVM to manage versions of ruby and rails. It allows you to install multiple versions of ruby and rails on your system.